Pond The Weather Asia Tour Live in The Pallas Jakarta

The four piece Australian psych rock band Pond is currently touring South East Asia. Jakarta is among the list of cities where Pond would be coming to, and this is their debut playing here. Brought by Sonic Live Asia and Stubhub, the show will be taking place at The Pallas on Sunday, Nov 26. The band would not be playing on its own as Jakarta based band .Feast will be sharing the stage with Pond as an opening act.

Pond were formed in Perth, Australia in 2008. Having the same interest toward music with psychedelic roots while involved in Perth music scene, frontman Nick Allbrook and Tame Impala‘s Kevin Parker used to play for each other’s band. Parker played drums for Pond until he left in 2010, although he remains as record producer for Pond. Allbrook played bass for Tame Impala until his subsequent departure in 2013 to focus on Pond. As of now Jay Watson is the only one who plays for both bands while having a solo project, Gum.

On May 2017 the band released their seventh album, ‘The Weather’. Their latest album reflects their disdain and pessimism toward humanity. As seen on NME, Allbrook explained the concept of the album, “Laying out all the dark things underneath the shimmering exterior of cranes, development, money and white privilege”. Despite its bleak theme, the cynical lyrics are delivered with bright psychedelic pop heavily tinged with synths.

One of the tracks that released precedent to the album is ‘30000 Megatons’, which coincided with Donald Trump’s inauguration. The song references to the total global nuclear arsenal that sums up to 30000. Allbrook wishes the humanity to just disappear, “I look out at the mirror, look out at the world/30,000 megatons is just what we deserve.”

Another track released as single is ‘Paint Me Silver’. In the song Pond borrowed the lively intro off Todd Rundgren and Utopia’s Cosmic Convoy. “Bring me Louis Cartier I need a diamond halo/for me and my seven billion brothers”, Allbrook sings, hinting his distress over the fate of people of the world. He had no idea what to do, then in a cynical way he ensures, “But that’s not nothing new, babe”.

While the songs mentioned above suggest frustration, there’s a impishly flirty song “Sweep Me off My Feet”. And also several other tracks of the album worth mentioning, like “Colder Than Ice” or “The Edge of The World pt.1 & 2”. Hearing this album in its entirety is a way to enjoy misanthropic future whilst being unaware of the uncertainty that lies ahead.